Just Another Love Story
by Shalott45
Summary: Another of those sweet, rushed love stories. Drarry oneshot. Draco is a Veela and has to find his mate, but who would want to be bonded to an ex-death-eater? EWE! HPDM. Mostly preslash. Rated for language and kissing.


**Disclaimer: **All familiar characters are owned by J.K Rowling and associates. No copyright infringement is intended. I write for pleasure, not money. 

Draco Malfoy is a veela. And he thinks it makes him better than any pureblood, not that blood matters to him since the war. It's just the whole having wings and being an angel-like creature that makes him stare in awe at his reflection. He thinks being a veela is great. The only downside he can think of is the whole rule that says 'find a mate within a year or die'. His year started two months ago so he has plenty of time. Draco's problem is that most people don't feel like binding themselves forever to a magical creature. Especially because the binding is one made of magic, love and spirit. You pledge your soul to someone else for eternity and can never separate from them again even if you wanted to. He thinks wizarding society is downright dumb. How can they not see how wonderful such a bond is? How can they not see how powerful it makes a person? Then again, people are afraid of things they don't understand and they obviously don't understand anything that isn't human. They barely understand muggles. Not that he understands muggles. Draco really doesn't get how muggles can live without magic, the mere thought is unbearable. At least, he has learnt to pity them since the end of the second war. Before, he just thought them beneath him, but now he thinks that they need all the help they can get. Muggleborns too. They need help to be integrated in the wizarding world and since no one else has done anything to make it happen, not even that insufferable Granger, he has taken action. Draco has made a special tracking devise that can find any muggleborn in Britain. That way, he can start educating them on how his world - their future world - works, the standards they should live up to, and spells that all the half-bloods and purebloods know before they start school. And it has become a great success. So great that he has been putting off finding a mate for quite some time and focused on his new project, but he thinks it's time to start searching for real, after all, he only has ten months left to make someone fall in love with him and get them to join him in a commitment that make most pee their pants. With this in mind, he has put a small advertisement in the Daily Prophet, requesting help to run his business. What he suspects is that no one will dare join an ex-death-eater-turned-veela in any way. So when Harry Potter shows up in his office for a job interview, he is very surprised. He shouldn't be surprised of course, this is the saviour of the wizarding world we're talking about.

Potter looks as suprised as Draco when he enters, he probably couldn't believe his former nemesis would have made such a drastic turn in his attitude towards muggleborns.  
"Come to make fun of me, have you Potter?" He asks.

Potter, however, doesn't bite, just smiles and sits down in the opposite chair and starts talking about why he thinks he would be a great help in Draco's integration program. And how can he refuse when Potter is the only one brave enough to show up? Hell, how can he refuse when he realises that Potter is sexy. Messy hair and green eyes and lithe body and slightly darker voice than last time they met. He isn't really that special, to most he looks like the average man, well, slightly shorter. But to Draco he is the most perfect person in the world - after Draco, that is - and he knows who he wants to mate with. The irony does hit him and he starts laughing out loud which makes Potter look at him funny, but he doesn't care because he hasn't had a lot of joy in his life and it's highly amusing to think that he once wished to push Potter around and make him fall on his face and now he just wants to push Potter around and then catch him when he falls. He tells Potter that he is hired and can start as soon as possible. Potter shakes his hand before he leaves and Draco is sure no touch has ever been as sweet. His hand tingles the next three days.

When Potter shows up for his first day, Draco shows him how to work the tracking device, which is quite complicated but apparently Potter is smarter than Draco thought because he seems to understand right away and uses it correctly on his first try. Draco's opinion of Potter rises and he is convinced that Potter will make a perfect mate.

The next couple of days, Draco spends most of his time checking out Potter whenever he isn't looking and wondering whether Potter is even gay. If he is, it should be easier to get him to fall in love, but if he isn't Draco does enjoy a good chase and he knows he will get what he wants. He knows Potter too well and knows exactly how to make him intrigued enough to stay around no matter how freaked out he is.

Finally, Draco decides to put in the first subtle (ahem) move and shows Potter a picture of a half-naked man saying that the man is hot. Potter looks at him startled as if trying to figure out if he is joking and then he smiles and shakes his head. The blush staining his cheeks looks promising and Draco decides that even if Potter isn't gay, which isn't very likely, he is definitely not adverse to the idea of same-sex relationships. He lets his hand brush Potter's when he passes by him and hopes Potter feels the electricity too. Draco spends almost a whole month just lightly brushing Potter's hands or shoulders whenever he comes near him and taking any opportunity to touch him. In purely innocent ways of course and Potter seems to think this is just Draco's normal behaviour and stops reacting fairly quickly. Maybe it is how Draco always has been around Potter, now that he thinks about it, he did always get all up in Potter's personal space whenever he got the chance. He decides to kick his flirting up a notch. He also tries to show more interest in Potter's personal life and despite the fact that Potter is completely daft and doesn't recognize flirting when it's _right there_, they still get more comfortable around each other and he earns enough trust that Potter soon starts complaining about Granger and Weasley to Draco. One of the things he finds out is that Granger and Weasley apparently haven't married yet because they can't seem to decide whether they want to be together or not. One minute, they're dating, and the next, they're not even friends. It drives Potter crazy and Potter says he's glad he can confide in Draco. Draco jokes that he's going to tell everything to Rita Skeeter and Potter loses all colouring in his face for a few seconds until he realises that Draco is only kidding and they both laugh together. Potter tells Draco that Ginny annoys him because she keeps wanting to get back together after everything that's happened and can't seem to get it through her head that Potter just isn't interested in her. When Draco asks why, Potter turns red and mumbles that he doesn't really like women and if that isn't the cutest thing in the entire universe, Draco doesn't know what is. He asks Potter who he is interested in and this time, Potter is so red he looks more like a tomato than anything and avoids looking Draco in the eye. He knows he is completely and irrevocably in love with the man he now thinks of as his mate and he can see that Potter must be a goner too. He smiles a huge smile then and Potter stops breathing for a minute before he remembers how to do it.

When another month has passed and nothing has happened between them, Draco gets irritated. Aren't Gryffindors supposed to be all courageous and impulsive and just jump into things without thinking them through? They should be dating by now and Potter just doesn't do anything! Honestly, does Draco have to do all the work?

In the end, he is so frustrated that he bursts into one of the small classrooms and stomps up to Potter who looks confused, smacks him against the blackboard, and kisses him like he's never kissed anyone, in front of the giggling seven-year-olds. When he finally pulls away, Potter has the audacity to wipe his mouth and Draco can not let such an act pass unnoticed so he kisses Potter again and this time Potter licks his lips when he pulls away, looking dazed. Draco tells him that they are going out tonight and that Potter better be ready at six, or else. Potter just laughs and kisses his cheek before forcing him out.

"We're not supposed to make out in front of the kids" He says and Draco tells him that making out is nothing compared to what he'll do to Potter later. Shaking his head in amusement, Potter shuts the door to the classroom right in Draco's face and if it wasn't for the previous kiss, he would have killed him. As it is, though, he just stands there, not quite able to fathom what he just did.

Their first date is wonderful. The second is incredible. The third is amazing. Their next ones are all three of those things and there is nothing that can ruin the romance that is blossoming between them. Not even when Ginny throws herself at Potter one evening, does it kill their good moods, instead they both tell Ginny to find someone else and shove their tongues down each others throats just to make her go away. It turns out that she just finds it exciting to watch and they flee the bar together. The rest of the evening they spend on Draco's couch, sometimes snuggled up to each other, sometimes just talking about themselves and discussing a variety of different subjects.

When they finally get to the point in their relationship where they can talk about their pasts without feeling threatened, Draco decides that it's time for them to meet each other's families. Even if it means he has to spend an evening with the Weasleys. He is almost scared of himself when he greets each Weasley with genuine enthusiasm and even hugs Molly. Love is all about sacrifices, he thinks.

Most of the dinner with the Weasleys goes well, they talk, laugh and joke and are all very friendly until Molly and Arthur have gone to bed. Potter has disappeared to Merlin-knows-where with Bill and Charlie and Draco is cornered by Ron and Hermione. They threaten him and say that if he ever hurts Harry, he won't know what hit him. Then, they hug him and if he smiles it surely isn't because of their company or approval. When Potter finally shows up again after an hour, he gives Draco a calculating, hurt look, slaps him and apparates away. Apparently, he isn't the only one who hasn't followed what just happened because Ron and Hermione are gaping at the now empty space and right now finding out why his boyfriend is angry is more important than anything so he apparates, without a goodbye, to Potter's apartment. The next two hours, he spends banging on the door and screaming until his hands are bruised and his voice is hoarse, but to no avail. He doesn't see Potter at all the entire week that follows and he is getting desperate. He will die without Potter - he knows he won't fall in love with anyone else - but the stupid git keeps ignoring his fire-calls and doesn't show up for work. Draco is just about ready to tear down Potter's door when he finally appears at his doorstep. They yell at each other and finally make up when Draco says he's been worried sick. Potter says that he found out that Draco is a veela and that he doesn't understand why he kept it secret. He asks if it was because their love isn't real and if Draco only needs Potter so he can survive at all and Draco tells him he's a bloody prat for believing the myths wizards have made up about veela without even consulting the veela himself. They apologise and Draco tells Harry everything he knows about veela and shows his wings and they both say "I love you" and suddenly the past week doesn't seem so awful anymore because they are together again.

Yet another awesome month passes and everything is like heaven until Harry suddenly shuts Draco out again. This time, however, Draco suspects that Harry is insecure about whether their love is real and he sits down outside Harry's apartment for ten hours, just talking to the door until Harry finally opens and asks him why he didn't tell him about the bonding he has to do with his mate and how he could spend all this time with Harry when he knew he would find a mate because Harry really thought that this could be forever. Draco hits him and tells him he's a jerk.

"Merlin, Potter, if you were any more daft, you'd be a vegetable. Did you honestly think i would spend time with you if I didn't love you? I hoped you would be my mate."

Harry tells asks him if he shouldn't know already whether they truly were mates and Draco tells him in not-so-kind words that mates aren't predestined like everyone says they are in the myths and that he thinks it makes the bond between the veela and the mate all the more fantastic because you have to be in love for real and aren't just forced into the relationship. He goes down on one knee and proposes, taking out the ring he bought the first week after Harry started working with him, and Harry drags him into his apartment to do unspeakable things.

The day after the proposal, Harry says he never got to meet Draco's parents and Draco protests that it isn't necessary, he already has met them before, but Harry wants to do it properly and even though Draco does everything he can to get out of such a meeting, he is secretly pleased that Harry wants to meet his idiotic, prejudiced parents.

At Malfoy Manor, they are greeted formally at the door and neither his mother nor father seem pleased by having Harry Potter in their living space. They think it's a business meeting and when Draco tells them in the middle of the meal that he has chosen Harry as his mate and that they are engaged, his mother starts crying and his father chokes on his steak. His mother then proceeds to tug Harry into a firm hug and tell him that she's sorry about everything that has happened over the years and is so happy for them both whilst his father mumbles something about dignity and how no Malfoy should act like that, until he gets his ear pinched by his wife and then congratulates them in his own twisted manner which involves a bunch of insults and "Corrupting my son, bloody Gryffindor, you are both idiots, you're supposed to hate each other, not snog, I'll see you at the wedding and you will get one of the Malfoy estates as a wedding gift, now leave before I vomit".

Laughing, they apparate to Harry's apartment again and end up spending the entire night making up ways to annoy Draco's father at the wedding. They fall asleep on the couch and when Draco wakes up, Harry serves him a mighty breakfast and tells him he's beautiful and says that he can't wait 'til they're bonded. Draco has never been happier than when he hears those words and he vows to savour moments like this one. He even considers writing a diary just to record sweet gestures and words, but decides it would be too Gryffindor of him and that Gryffindors are too sappy. He hopes that the children he's sure they'll adopt in the future will be Slytherins and makes plans to corrupt their children that he'll never follow through with. In the future, he'll probably live in a house full of Gryffindors and perhaps that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Sooner than expected, their wedding day arrives and they are both nervous and awkward right until they stand there together, in front of their guests and the minister himself, and make promises of eternal love and devotion. And then it's like there is no audience and their eyes lock and they both know that truer words have never been spoken and in Harry's eyes, Draco can see promises of forever and longer and children and fights to come and awe-inspiring moments to be had and determination like no other and he just knows that this is what his whole life has lead up to. All the history between them makes their relationship even more special and when the bright blue light circles around them and binds their souls and he can feel two heartbeats instead of one, he kisses his husband chastely and embraces him and the knowledge that this is his future is almost too much. If a single tear falls from his eye, nobody says anything and he thinks that the tear is a symbol of how he has put his past behind him and is starting a new life with his extraordinary husband. They dance and laugh and joke and humiliate his parents and if this is how the rest of his life will be, he will feel young forever.


End file.
